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New Feature: Bionic Review

Posted in Bionic Man, nostalgia, pop culture, Six Million Dollar Man, TV shows with tags Bionic Review, nostalgia, pop culture, reviews, TV shows on June 14, 2012 by Paxton

I’m going to start up another feature on this blog. Thanks to CT over at Nerd Lunch I was able to acquire a very cheap set of The Six Million Dollar Man Complete Series DVD collection from Time Life.

I’ve been a huge bionic fan since I watched the show in reruns while I was growing up. I have VHS copies of some of the more famous episodes like the original Bigfoot episodes, the original Bionic Woman episodes and The Seven Million Dollar Man episode. But ever since Time Life released this set, I wanted it. The asking price was a little out of my price range though, but I maintained hope that it would go on sale at some point. Then CT spotted a coupon code on Facebook for the set that gave me over $80 off the price so I pulled the trigger and got the entire set with free shipping for a price that fell smack dab in the middle of my desired price range. YES.

So now I have the full set at home. It’s awesome, it comes in this collectible box with a lenticular image of Steve Austin on top that actually runs when you move the top up and down. Also, when you open the top, you hear Oscar Goldman say, “Steve Austin. A man barely alive…” Like I said, AWESOME. My son loves that the box talks when you open it and he also likes looking at the Steve Austin lenticular “run”. Maybe sometime he’ll watch these episodes with me.

So now I want to start watching the episodes of the show.

Cyborg IV

At the same time I’ve been trying to get this DVD set, I’ve also sort of quietly started collecting the novels that are based on the show. There are four novels written by Martin Caidin who created Steve Austin in his first novel, Cyborg. There are also a bunch of novels that adapt episodes of the show. I got the original Cyborg novel as well as it’s two sequels; Operation Nuke and High Crystal. But it was taking me for-f**king-ever to find the final Caidin book, Cyborg IV. Then I finally worked a deal with a guy online and acquired pretty much the entire run of Six Million Dollar Man novels as well as the two Bionic Woman novels. So now I have those to read.

Since I plan on consuming all of this pop culture bionic awesomeness, I figure I’ll chart my progress here on the blog in much the same way I’m doing my Oz books read through. I’ll start reviewing the books, then I’ll start reviewing the TV episodes. I haven’t figured out how the episode reviews will work. I probably won’t put up an article for every single episode. I’ll probably group episodes together in twos or threes and leave the big two parters and the more significant episodes (Bigfoot, Bionic Woman, Death Probe) with their own articles. We’ll see how I do that when I get there.

Currently, right this very moment, I’ve read the first two Caidin novels and watched the first two Six Million Dollar Man pilot movies (there were three movies in 1973 before the series began in January 1974). I’ll slowly start to post these reviews without any type of regularity at first. The Oz read through stuff will take priority right now. But I’m looking forward to starting and sharing this journey with everyone. It should be fun.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 41 – Would You Rather?

Posted in podcast with tags Back to the Future, Batman, Muppets, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture on June 12, 2012 by Paxton

Check yourself. Episode 41 of the Nerd Lunch Podcast is now LIVE. This week we are joined by Andrew Bloom of The Atomic Geeks.

Delorean Batmobile

Andrew breezes in on his Atomic Geek motor scooter and subjects CT, Jeeg and Pax to a series of Would You Rather? questions. Will CT kill Kermit the Frog or the Star Trek franchise? Will Jeeg die at the hands of Snuffy the Snuffalupagus or Big Bird? Will Pax erase the existence of the Star Wars prequels from everyone’s memory or just his own? These questions and more await you in episode 41 of the Nerd Lunch podcast.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

Or listen right here:

http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/i/x/133946375268/config/k-28fb6c171299270f/uuid/null/episode/k-5c8be9c9dad0fcd8

My top 10 movies featuring time travel

Posted in Back to the Future, Harry Potter, movies, pop culture, time travel with tags Back to the Future, Harry Potter, LEB, movies, pop culture, Star Trek, time travel, Time Travelogues on June 7, 2012 by Paxton

New League assignment this week. We apparently were off last week, but Brian has thrown a very good subject for this week. He wants us to create a list of 10 favorite movies. We can pick the category. There are so many ways to slice-and-dice a list of 10 movies. It took me a while to really think about it but I think I came up with an appropriate angle for me.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I’m an aficionado of time travel in pop culture. Some say I would be an “Internet authority” on said topic (I won’t argue that). I see the movies and TV shows, I read the books. I study it. I enjoy it. Check out the numerous time travel articles I’ve written on this blog as well as Episode 3 of the Nerd Lunch podcast in which we discussed time travel (and our third most downloaded episode, btw). You can see I have something invested in this subject. So, I thought I’d list out my 10 favorite movies that feature time travel.

I realize there are going to be ones you’ll want on, but I’m giving you my list of favorite time travel movies. I’ll also include some honorable mentions at the bottom.

So, let’s get started going back…..to the future….and past. Whatever. Oh, and I don’t normally do this, but I’m actually ranking these 10 – 1. Much like time itself, the order matters.

(Via jovisala47)
10. Galaxy Quest – Time travel is really only used in this movie as a small plot device at the very end, but it’s used very well. The Omega 13 is a nebulous and strange device, but it worked and both spoofed the original Star Trek’s version of time travel as well as created a fun version of time travel for the movie. Plus, I love the s**t out of this movie. The perfect spoof of classic Star Trek while simultaneously being a really good stand along sci-fi movie.
(Via Harry Potter Wikia)
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – This is another kind of a cheat. The movie doesn’t feature time travel, but uses it as a plot device towards the end. However, it’s used very well and the Time Turner itself is a fascinating little gadget. This third movie in the HP franchise is so good and having time travel at the end and also realizing Hermione has been using it from the beginning of the story, just makes it that much better.

(Via best-horror-movies.com)
8. Time Crimes – This is a pretty great little suspense movie that has a plot that not only features time travel, but revolves around it. It gets a little crazy at the end, and a little confusing as well, but I really enjoy the hell out of this movie. It’s about a guy named Hector who stumbles upon a time machine and gets himself into several hairy situations when he’s sent back 30min into the past.

(Via movieslist2010)
7. Groundhog Day – Not generally thought of by people as a time travel movie, but it is. Murray is trapped in what we call a “time loop” and has to live the last 24 hours over and over and over. Such a great movie even if the “time loop” is never really explained.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 40: Drill Down: Saved by the Bell

Posted in podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags Nerd Lunch, podcast, podcasts, pop culture, TV shows on June 5, 2012 by Paxton

Feast your ear-balls on Episode 40 of the Nerd Lunch podcast. For this very special episode, it doesn’t get any nerdier than us discussing the intricate continuity of the show that was High School Musical before High School Musical. Yes, this week the nerds discuss Saved by the Bell.

(Via kaydi-did)

Just an FYI, I decided to “bow out” of this episode because it was time for me to take a small break on a week when we discuss a subject I’m not intricately versed in. I was a fan of the show, I’m just not really a SBTB enthusiast. Plus it was nice to follow CT and Jeeg’s lead and take a week off.

In my place this week are special guests Aaron Nix and Jay from SexyArmpit.com. They are more than capable of holding down the fort while I partake in my little nerdy sojourn. So give this episode a listen. I know I will, and it’ll be the first time I’ve heard a Nerd Lunch episode cold in 39 episodes. It’s strange not knowing what is going to happen.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

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8 Comic covers right before/after a famous first appearance

Posted in Batman, comic books, pop culture, Superman, The Flash with tags Batman, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, nostalgia, pop culture, Superman, The Flash, vintage on June 4, 2012 by Paxton

First appearances of famous comic book heroes/villains are highly sought after in the comic book world. Who wouldn’t love an Action Comics #1 or a Detective Comics #27? But what about Action Comics #2? Or Detective Comics #26? Are anyone seeking these titles out?

To me, it’s fascinating to look at very famous comic titles before or after they’ve debuted a very famous character. They may not look like even the same title. It’s weird to see an issue of Detective Comics with Slam Bradley or the Crimson Avenger on the front and not Batman. You feel like you’re in the Fringe universe. Let’s check out some of these fun comic covers and you can see how strange and foreign they look to you.

Action Comics #1
Action Comics #2 – Action Comics is probably one of the most iconic titles of all time. Who doesn’t know that Superman debuted in issue #1 of Action Comics (left) in 1938? Well, interestingly enough, Action Comics was originally meant to be an anthology adventure comic with several other adventure characters. So even though Action Comics is now strictly a Superman title, back then, Supes was just one of the featured characters. Therefore, issue #2 (right) didn’t feature Superman on the cover at all. Issue #3 didn’t feature Superman either. As a matter of fact, Superman wouldn’t make another Action Comics cover appearance until issue #7 (SIX MONTHS later).

Detective Comics #27 Detective Comics #28
Detective Comics #26 and #28 – Detective Comics is as intimately associated with Batman as Action Comics is with Superman. However, Batman didn’t debut until issue #27 (middle), so there were 26 issues of Detective without Batman on the cover or in the book. As you can see, in the issues before (#26, left) and after (#28, right) Batman you get standard covers of police officers and gangsters that you would normally appear on crime comics of this time. While Batman would return to the cover for issue #29, he would be absent again for issue #30.

All-Star Comics #3 and #8 – All-Star Comics is a very famous Golden Age title. It features the first appearance of The Justice Society of America in issue #3 (middle) which is the first team-up of super-heroes into a single team in history. In issue #2 (left), you can see they still feature the heroes on the cover, but not collected together as one team as designated by issue #3’s giant round table with the team name embossed on the top. All-Star Comics #8 (right) is an interesting issue also. You wouldn’t know it by the cover, but that issue is the first appearance of Wonder Woman in an 8 page insert that was used to test the interest of Wonder Woman as a hero. Wonder Woman would join the Justice Society in issue #11…as their secretary (but she would make the cover!). She would prove popular enough to headline her own book, Sensation Comics, a year later.

Showcase #5
Showcase #3 and #5 – The debut of The Flash in Showcase #4 (middle) was one of the defining moments of the Silver Age. Showcase was a tryout book by DC to determine who would get their own series. As you can see, the issue before The Flash debuted (#4, middle) featured a story about deep sea divers called The Frogmen (#3, left). And even though The Flash was a huge hit, he wouldn’t appear in Showcase #5 which featured Manhunters (#5, right). The Flash would reappear on the cover for Showcase #8. The Hal Jordan Green Lantern would debut in Showcase #22.